Earth System Story Map Collections: Lesson Plans

Are you looking for interactive lesson plans using visualizations and authentic data to addressimportant processes and phenomena in the Earth System?

Check out these story maps. Story maps are an immersive means of storytelling by combining richnarrative text with interactive maps and NASA data, along with other multimedia content like imagesand videos in a 5E Model of the Earth System phenomena that you teach.

See full descriptions below the table:

Atmosphere Story Maps

Creation of Urban Heat IslandsHurricanes as Heat Engines

Biosphere Story Maps

Global Phytoplankton Distribution

Cryosphere Story Maps

Sea Ice Extent and the Earth System

Geosphere Story Maps

Volcanic Eruptions

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Hydrosphere Story Maps

Ocean Circulation Patterns

Visit our Story Maps by clicking the links below:

1. The Creation of the Urban Heat Island Story Map engages students in theexploration of the urban heat island effect using land surface temperature and vegetation data.Students also investigate the processes that create differences in surface temperatures, as well ashow human activities have led to the creation of urban heat islands.

2. In the Hurricanes as Heat Engines Story Map, students use variousvisualizations (i.e. images, charts, and graphs) to explore the energy exchange that occurs whenhurricanes extract heat energy from the ocean. Using sea surface temperature data, they simulatethe conditions that allow hurricanes to form, and observe the effects of hurricanes on the EarthSystem.

3. The Global Phytoplankton Distribution Story Map students usechlorophyll concentration data to explore global distribution patterns of phytoplankton. Students alsoinvestigate the processes that allow phytoplankton populations to thrive, as well as how their role inthe carbon cycle affects the other spheres of the Earth System.

4. In the Sea Ice Extent and the Earth System Story Map, studentsexplore changes in sea ice extent as it relates to other spheres within the Earth System. They alsodevelop an iterative concept map that they will use to document their understanding of the Earth

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System as it relates to changes in sea ice.

5. In the Volcanoes Eruptions Story Map, students explore the formation andimpacts of ash and aerosols from volcanic eruptions around the world. They also investigate how ashand aerosols produced from volcanic eruptions are hazardous to the human ecosystem. Studentsgraph the concentrations of aerosols from a volcanic eruption over time.

6. In the Ocean Circulation Patterns Story Map students analyze oceancirculation patterns as they relate to the world's ocean garbage patches using NASA ocean currentsdata. Students investigate the forces that contribute to ocean circulation patterns, and how debris,especially plastics, travel from land to garbage patches, as well as how humans have contributed toocean plastic pollution.

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